AN: Back by popular demand: John seeing Elena dancing with the murderous fiend Damon. Well, that can't end well…

Warnings: SPOILERS S01E21,22. If you haven't seen them, don't read.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

Maybe

Vampires are abominations. I hate them. All of them. Even Isobel, deep down. I hate what she's become. What it did to her. And I will NOT, by God, allow that to happen to Elena. Not to my daughter. No. Never. I'd rather see her dead.

Better gone with the chance of a better place than here eternally, empty and hollow the way her mother is. The way the beast she's dancing with is.

And why is she dancing with him? Stefan I can at least stomach, he at least tries to be human. I'll still kill him the moment I think he's even considering Turning my daughter, but he's better than his brother. If he left, I wouldn't hunt him down. If I kill him, I won't take any vindictive pleasure in it. When I kill Damon, I won't be able to stop smiling for at least a week.

But Stefan isn't here. He's disappeared and left my beautiful girl alone to face humiliation. And Damon saved her. Bastard. I wonder what sort of angle he's trying to work on her, or his brother.

Now that I think about it, this is the perfect revenge. He'll swoop in and save the girl. Be there for her. Play the role of friend, of confidant, and then he'll do what he feels Stefan did to him: he'll steal the girl. He'll toy with Elena's emotions, jerk her around by her foolishly trusting heart and naïve understanding of the monster he is, and he'll use her until he's done with her.

Damnit, Elena! Stop looking at him like that! He's not the hero of the play, he's the villain! He's a killer. A beast that needs to be put down like a diseased dog. So stop looking at the wolf like he's an adorable puppy you want to take home.

As your father, I absolutely forbid it. You hear me? FORBID it. Never going to happen. Ever.

Damon cannot be redeemed. He cannot be saved. He doesn't want to be. He's a sick, twisted fuck and I won't let you be hurt by him. I won't. I can't.

I can't watch you change the way Isobel did. I won't. It'll kill me.

But Elena can't hear me. And I can't say the words dancing on the tip of my tongue. Isobel and I have a plan and it doesn't involve revealing Elena's parentage to her. Maybe, maybe after I've killed them. Maybe after I've killed Damon and Isobel. Maybe then, I can tell her that I'm her father. Maybe.

But for now, I'll bite my tongue, swallow my words, and watch my precious, only daughter dance with the devil. Because, really, what else can I do?